Last night's hockey game in Vancouver came down to one key factor: the Dallas Stars were hungrier for victory than the Canucks. That much was obvious at various junctures of the game, but especially in the third period.
The Stars outworked and outhustled the Canucks, and took advantage of some coverage breakdowns and a strictly average goaltending performance from Roberto Luongo. It all added up to a satisfying 5-2 win over the Western Conference leaders.
Stars TV commentator Daryl Reaugh said it best last night when he said that the game very easily could have turned into a high-scoring affair because there were a lot of open chances for both sides -- but the Stars were the team that rolled up their sleeves and did a better job at building a foundation for victory.
Jamie Benn easily could have had a hat trick last night, but had to "settle" for what proved to be a critical goal in the third period. The BC native was a bundle of hyper-kinetic energy last night. Mike Ribeiro and Loui Eriksson -- both of whom have been tremendous down the stretch -- stepped up huge for the Stars. Philip Larsen played a tremendous two-way game on the blueline, and saved at least one goal for his team.
Adam Burish also played a fabulous game last night as did Steve Ott (who had his teammates laughing on the bench as he smilingly celebrated the fact he was bleeding to draw a four-minute power play in the final period). Burish had at least two point-blank chances where he shot wide of the net, but otherwise was very effective for his team.
Richard Bachman, given a somewhat surprising start by head coach Glen Gulutzan, rewarded the show of faith by turning in a solid game in net. Alex Edler's goal that cut the Stars' lead to one goal with plenty of time remaining was a knuckleball of a partially deflected shot that ended up going over the goalie's shoulder. However, that was a save that probably needed to be made. The rest of Bachman's performance was strong whenever the club needed it to be.
With last night's regulation win coupled with the Sharks' shootout loss to Edmonton, the Pacific Division leading Stars now have a two-point lead on idle Phoenix and a three-point advantage over San Jose. The Sharks still have two games in hand on the Stars but they would need to take advantage of them and also beat Dallas head-to-head.
Dallas concludes its three-game Western Canada road trip with a perfect 3-0-0 record. The club will now return home to the American Airlines Center to take on the Sharks tomorrow night.
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